Synesthesia

I've posted a lot in this thread throughout its existence, I can't remember where my relationship was the last time I posted. But here's the latest. My boyfriend has no tattoos and hated tattoos when we first met. He still has no tattoos, but he appreciates them a lot more than he used to. He's getting into more blackwork/geometry type stuff and says now he's considering getting one along those lines after he buys himself a new car. Pretty crazy to see how much things have changed. I'm just happy that he appreciates tattoos as art now, and he no longer gives me a hard time at all about any of mine or my ideas for future ones.

I'm going to try to head in to a local shop's anniversary party on June 11th. It's all flash drawn specifically for that event so I'm going to go check it out and see if anything catches my eye. It benefits a local animal charity, so I'm telling myself it's my duty to get a new tattoo just a couple weeks after finishing another.

I guess my biggest one is just seeing some of the shit that pops up on my Facebook news feed from my friends getting tattooed. I have a friend who just got her first and was extremely proud of it. It's a tribal butterfly that isn't even symmetrical. Like, not even close. How do you even screw that up? Just draw half of it and then fold the paper over! It was a bad concept, badly drawn, and badly applied. It blows my mind to see otherwise intelligent people I know just losing their minds when it comes to tattoos. Tattoos don't HAVE to look bad, you know! And in this day and age, when you can look up thousands of tattooers on Facebook, Instagram, etc and get a feel for what can be accomplished. I just legitimately don't understand. Ultimately people can do what they want and good for them for being proud of what they get. I just hope that they'll see the error of their ways soon for my own selfish reasons because I want good tattoos cluttering my news feed, not shitty ones.

Finally finished this huge thigh piece a few days ago, loosely based on the cover for one of my favorite metal albums! Pictures taken a couple hours after when I was still ridiculously red and swollen. I'll be sure to post better pics once it's done peeling. Done by Sam Warren at Dreams Collide in Lancaster, PA. Pic from the front/side: From the back:

Haha, true. I think part of my problem is I'm itching to go down to my forearms but I want to make 100% sure I love what I put there, so I'm second guessing myself a lot. Maybe I'll just give up my forearms for now since the pressure to "get it right" seems to be holding me back everywhere else.

Lately my biggest issue is with ideas. I have tons of vague ideas (a dagger! more animals!, etc) but I have a hard time narrowing down what exactly I want the tattoo to look like, who I want to do it, and where it should go. I've been debating the same pieces forever it seems like, I just can't make up my mind about specifics.

I recently got a large piece done on my thigh, and just when I think I've plundered the depths of misery, we find a new level of pain with every session. First, the butt/leg crease. Then the back of the thigh. Mostly recently during a shading session, he was really grinding into the side of my knee, and bending my leg at a weird angle. That was the first time I ever thought to myself "Holy shit, I don't think I can do this." But I did! I think I went into shock from that spot, I was shaking uncontrollably for a while after the tattoo was finished. That spot in and of itself wasn't SO bad, but as part of a lengthy shading session, and combined with long, grinding motions into my kneecap, AND my leg being bent the wrong way made it a memorable experience.

I have a barn owl on my outer calf. Here was my thought process: I knew I wanted a barn owl with a mouse in its beak or talons, partially to symbolize overcoming some personal fears, and partially just because it was cool and would differentiate me from the other girls getting cutesy owl tattoos. As far as style, I had no idea. As far as background, I was kind of thinking cherry blossoms just because they're my favorite flower. I met an artist who had done some awesome owls and I fell in love with his style and personality. We talked and he steered me away from cherry blossoms, because he said they weren't native to this owl's environment, and suggested we do a more woodsy type theme. I loved his concept. As he was laying the stencil, he suggested we could expand this idea into a leg sleeve, which I also loved. I had him add a hare ("I want a big, ugly hare, not a cute little bunny") on the other side of my leg. Still had a couple spots I wanted him to fill on my shin and back of my calf, but he unfortunately passed away before we could. Suicide is a hell of a thing. So that's my story of my barn owl tattoo. I guess what I'm hoping you take out of that is that there are tons of directions a tattoo can go, and if you find someone you work well with, they'll come up with something cool you'll love. Maybe even something you could never imagine. Sometimes we worry about getting the "perfect" tattoo, but honestly, we'll never know what might have been if we went a different direction. So just find an artist you like and enjoy the ride. Life is short, get tattooed. :) Here's a pic of my owl:

Forgot to post pics. We nearly finished this up a couple weeks ago. One more short session next month to darken and tighten things up. Here's some terrible quality photos I got the next day: And just yesterday I got a closeup of the horse head, which gives you an idea of how much the blue is really starting to pop now that it's almost fully done healing. I need to get better quality photos of the whole thing.

That's an awkward spot. I'm not sure how much detail could really be worked in there and if it CAN be done, I'm still not sure it would be what you want. I say let it heal, sit on it for a while after that, and if you're still not in love with it then, just laser it or cover it up. Way easier to start over when you just have linework than to go through all the trouble to add more lines and shading, and potentially still not get what you want, and then have to cover up or laser off all that extra work. In the future, I would be highly skeptical of these kinds of tattoos that are popular on Pinterest, Instagram, etc. Either they're photoshopped or require a super high level of skill that not many artists can accomplish.

Usually stuff you'd see on Pinterest: feathers, dates, roman numerals, paw prints, etc. 10 pounds of sentimental shit in a 5 pound bag, with wiggly lines and patchy coloring. I would call it "white trash" style, but people of all races seem to get this stuff. I have noticed in some nearby cities (Lancaster, Harrisburg, etc) in the "nicer" areas of town there's a resurgence of traditional tattoos, and the traditional shops in those areas are flourishing.

You mean people with tattoos can be intelligent?! :eek: Good on them though. I imagine Jeopardy needs to get with the times to stay even remotely relevant, and nowadays most people are tattooed...no use fighting it or trying to maintain their stuffy atmosphere.

I don't think I've posted mine yet...I wanted my first tattoo on my arms to be something sort of significant but still badass. :D This tattoo represents my parents, the rose is my mom (she likes gardening and has always had rose bushes) and the eagle is my dad (he served in the navy and then the reserves). It doesn't come right out and say "Mom and dad" but I know what it means.

Hey guys...I'm not on the boards too much lately because frankly, I'm kind of tired of even thinking about tattoos at the moment. This current project I'm working on is the most grueling yet. Once I finish this piece, I think I'll go back to traditional one shots on my arms, because this thing is burning me out. Anyway, I met with Sam Warren recently to work on doing some coloring (so far we've done one for lining, one for black and gray shading, and now one for color). One more session to go next month to finish coloring and maybe do some touching up. Sorry the pic is horrible but have you ever tried taking a picture of your own thigh? It ain't easy. Here's some close ups of the key components:

I haven't really given this much thought, but I know for sure my favorite album of the year is Megiddo's "The Holocaust Messiah." I also really liked the new Mgla, Hate Eternal, Gnaw Their Tongues (and the collab with Dragged Into Sunlight), and Leviathan full lengths...as far as EPs, I liked Cosmic Church's new one and the new Vorum. My vote for "most fun" album would probably be Visigoth's "The Revenant King." (Why yes, I do listen to metal almost exclusively)

Haven't been too active around these parts recently, but I got some more work done on my thigh. We did the black and gray shading a couple days ago, lines are healed. Set to do some (if not all) color March 1st!

I'm in the middle of working on a thigh piece and it extends up to the crease where your butt meets your leg...the worst pain for tattooing yet, and it's just barely on the butt. I can only imagine what the actual butt feels like. :o I have no idea what I'll have done on my back, but I'm thinking traditional, which seems like a style that's able to pull off stopping above the butt. I might get two goofy tattoos on each cheek someday for my eyes only!

I probably won't be any help because I know nothing about Japanese tattoos...but in my opinion, any tattoo can be "feminine" without being overtly feminine. Just the fact that it's on a woman makes it feminine, too often people get caught up in "only certain colors are for girls, this design is too masculine, etc" but really tattoos are for both genders so there's nothing off limits. I assume your artist is pretty knowledgeable about the "rules" so you can ask him/her and choose to follow them or break them as you see fit (nowadays a lot of people don't strictly adhere to them as much).

Solid tattoo. I don't think that's a high price at all, probably the upper end of average for a tattoo that size and style but nothing exorbitant. “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” – Benjamin Franklin

Getting a little nervous (although there isn't anything I can do except wait). I had my thigh outlined a little over two weeks ago and it's still pretty shiny and doesn't look fully peeled. I'm ready for it to be settled in and done already.

I have one calf done (as done as I want it to be...the artist passed away before I could have him add the finishing touches, and I don't feel right having anyone else wrap it up), and am working on a big thigh piece now. I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my other calf (snake fighting a rooster) but now I'm not so sure. I like how my legs are a hodgepodge of styles and my arms are all trad/neo trad. I kind of want to continue with the miscellaneous stuff and experiment with different styles I don't already have (maybe some realism, Japanese, etc). But it'll be a while before I'm ready to do anything else on my legs.

Haha, I had Chad do one of my inner biceps because I wanted to get that spot over with as soon as possible, not realizing he's heavy handed and will do an entire huge line in one go. Hurt like the dickens. At least I got the pain over with ASAP. Nice back!

I mean, I guess she's not the WORST. I wouldn't go to her personally. I don't think she uses enough black in either black and gray or color tattoos. Her b+g doesn't have enough contrast and doesn't pop out at you that much and a lot of it is mostly just one tone of gray. This is really evident in the healed pictures she's posted. I actually think her old stuff (I looked her up on Instagram) is a lot darker and has more contrast, I'm not sure why she started going so much lighter. Her color work is also really flat and drab looking, in my opinion.